Caramel Apple Recipe – The Easiest, Simplest, Most Basic Recipe Ever. All Made from Scratch!

Apparently I’ve developed a reputation in certain food circles for developing EXCEEDINGLY complicated recipes. Which both baffles and amuses me. I mean, on the one hand I get it, as I do have a habit of reaching for a wide variety of whole grain flours (my gluten free ombre cake has seven different flours, not to mention two or three different binders and two different types of cocoa powder). But I do that because I think that’s how you’ll get the best results possible. On the other hand, I DO occasionally make the simple recipe (come one people, my Wordless Recipe series is told with photos! PHOTOS people!). But at the end of the day I get that not everyone wants to track down crazy flours, insanely obscure sweeteners and ludicrous ingredients that can only be bought on the internet. Which is why I present to you the easiest, simplest, most basic recipe for how to make caramel apples ever. EVER. Believe me when I say that ANYONE can do this. These are easy caramel apples. And it does NOT involve pre-made store bought candies. It’s completely from scratch! (Jump directly to the recipe.)

The problem I’ve always had easy caramel apple recipes is they usually involve going to the grocery store and buying bags of caramel chew candies. I get the temptation. You don’t have to worry about cooking sugar on the stove, something that I know scares the heck out of most people. The fear of burning the sugar (or worse, burn yourself) is a huge leap to make. Plus when you have those candies around, it’s kind of fun to pop one in your mouth as you unwrap them for the caramel apples. One for the bowl, one for you. Everyone’s happy!

But here’s the thing. Turn the bag over and look at the ingredients list which includes strange things like partially hydrogenated palm kernel oil, calcium carbonate, lipolyzed butter fat and the nebulous vague “artificial flavor”. Really now. Do you want to be feeding your kids that? But even worse than what’s in the caramels is what’s on the outside. Yep, I’m talking those REALLY annoying plastic wrappers. How many times have you had to pry those suckers open, as they stick the caramel, only to have it tear and find that there’s that annoying piece of plastic stuck to the candy that you can’t remove? Not to mention how my fingers cramp when I’m unwrapping more than two at a time. Do you really want to go through that AGAIN?

Thankfully I got your back. Making caramels for dipping apples is easy when you have a microwave and a microwave safe mixing bowl. You probably even have most of the ingredients in your cupboard, which means you don’t have to make that special trip do the store just to make caramel apples. Spontaneous caramel apples without the finger cramping – now that’s something to write about. Seriously folks. Go make these now.

The secret to making easy caramel apples is the microwave. Yep, you can make caramel sauce by microwaving sugar, water and a little corn syrup together. It’s painless and the microwave does all the work for you. One thing to note, don’t try this method with organic sugar. You have to use plain old regular refined white sugar. The impurities left in the organic sugar (and what makes it so beige) burns before the sugar can caramelize. But really, you’re making caramel apples. This isn’t quinoa people. Embrace them for what they are.

Directions1. Line a baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper, wax paper or silicon silpat. If your apples are super shiny they are probably coated in wax. Scour and clean them with hot water and a scrubby sponge to get the wax off. This will help the caramel stick. Dry and stab each apple with a stick of your choice (I went with disposable chopsticks – ‘cuz I’m Asian and I’m keepin’ it real). Place the toppings of your choice in separate bowls.

2. Place the sugar, corn syrup and water in a medium sized microwave safe bowl. Stir with a fork until all the sugar is wet and there are no dry spots. Put the bowl in the microwave and cook on high for 5 minutes. Pay attention to the bowl in the microwave starting around 45 seconds before it ends. Watch the sugar (it’ll be bubbling) and stop your microwave once the liquid sugar starts to brown. It took my microwave the entire 5 minutes for me to see browning, but some microwaves are more powerful than others. If you aren’t seeing browning, cook for an additional 30 seconds (paying really close attention to the sugar in the microwave until you see brown).

3. Once you see the sugar start to brown, take it out of the microwave (carefully) and put it on the counter. Swirl the sugar around in the bowl, and watch it magically start to darken. Keep swirling the sugar (don’t mix it with a fork or anything, just pick up the bowl with a hot pad or mitten and swirl the liquid around a bit so it darkens evenly). Once the sugar darkens to a deep chestnut brown (similar to a dark rum or a nice barrel-aged bourbon) add the butter and stir it in carefully. The caramel will steam up. Once the butter has melted add the heavy cream and salt, stirring carefully (as it will also steam up). Continue to stir for two or three minutes, until the caramel has cooled a bit and thickened slightly. To test if the caramel is ready, dip a spoon into the caramel and lift it up. If the caramel coats the back of the spoon without sliding off completely the caramel is ready.

Watch and swirl the liquid caramelized sugar as it will darken to a nice deep brown, similar to dark rum or bourbon.

Add the butter and stir carefully as it bubbles and steams.

Add the cream and stir carefully as it bubbles and steams.

4. Take the first apple and dip it in the caramel. You might have to roll it around a bit and tip the bowl to cover as much of the apple as you want. As you pull the apple out of the bowl, scrape excess caramel off the bottom of the apple with a fork. Dip the bottom of the caramel apple in whatever optional topping you want. Set on the lined baking sheet and repeat with the remaining apples. If the caramel starts to harden by the time you get to the fourth one, place the bowl back in the microwave for 15-30 seconds. If you want to make more apples, don’t double this recipe but just make another batch of caramel with a clean bowl. The caramel cools fast enough that dipping eight apples is tough to do.

Makes 4 caramel apples.

If you like this caramel apple recipe, check out these apple recipes from around the web:

I had no idea you could make caramel from scratch in the microwave, so genius! Oh, and I agree with you on those caramels, they are a huge pain in the butt. Also, they don’t even taste a fraction as good as the real thing.

It’s true! I used to love those caramel candies as a kid but I had one recently and I was all “Why does this taste so artificial?” Its as if I could taste the chemicals in the candies! Apparently my taste buds have shifted a lot since childhood. That or they’ve changed the candies so much from back when I was trick-or-treating.

LOL I love this- don’t feel bad about your crazy complicated recipes, Irvin, and take faith in the fact that it makes them that more difficult to plagiarize!
And on the other hand, a good, simple, tooth-achingly yum caramel apple recipe- there is nothing wrong with that, either. 🙂

I still make caramel on the stovetop but this microwave method is SO darn easy to do. And I’m both intrigued and slightly grossed out by the idea of chocolate cover Cheetos. But I can imagine they would look super Halloween cool!

I’ve been looking for an easy caramel apple recipe – I just got given 100 apples from a friend’s tree and I was thinking this might be fun for my students on Hallowe’en. This recipe (with a lot of adult supervision) might just be the thing. You make it looks so easy!

As long as you pay attention to the sugar and are careful about adding/mixing the butter and cream, the microwave method is way safer than the stovetop version. No real splattering of the caramel or super hot metal pans to worry about. But yes, you should definitely be careful regardless. Caramelized sugar is hot regardless of how you make it!

Oh no absolutely – I am always super cautious and I’ll probably have to try this myself (oh the pain of it!) beforehand to see if I think it will be ok. Regardless of whether I use it with the kids, this s a great recipe and the photos are beautiful – thanks!

These look so great! I am planning to make them tomorrow evening for a work meeting on Thurs. morning. Will they be OK stored at room temp for 12 hours or so, or should I refrigerate them until it’s time for me to leave for work?

Thanks for this recipe! I love making caramel, but have never tried it in the microwave!

They should keep overnight without a problem at room temperature, just use fresh apples. The biggest issue with them is humidity though. The most moisture in the air, the more the caramel will suck it up (it’s hygroscopic) and then start to melt. I left my apples out for a few few days and the caramel just slid off the apples (it took a few days to do that though, so overnight shouldn’t be an issue).

If you use less fresh apples though (and are concerned about them spoiling) or you have an ant problem, you can buy some cellophane and use that to cover the apples. Cut the cellophane into squares, place the apples in the middle of the square and wrap the apple , tying the cellophane to the stick above the apple. Don’t do this with plastic wrap though, as it’ll stick to the caramel. Or just store them in the fridge overnight.

However, if you DO store them in the fridge, make sure to bring the apples to room temperature. The caramel gets REALLY hard when it’s cold!

Yes. It not only saves time but it’s safer and easier to do than the stovetop method! You just put the ingredients in a large microwave safe bowl, turn it on, and watch it. Once it starts to brown (caramelize) you pull it out of the microwave, watch it darken and when it reaches the right color, add the butter and cream. Super easy!

I don’t know. I’ve never used milk for this method, but it might work. You might want to increase the butter to 3 tablespoons instead of just 2 though, as the milk is thinner than cream. But try it and let me know how it turns out!

Hi
I always make caramel at home and I recently posted a recipe that I tried and loved.
I have been trying to make candy apple and I was looking for a good caramel apple recipe. The thing is, I’m trying to stay away from corn syrup. For the candy apples, it worked with adding some lemon juice or vinegar (still have to test with cream of tartar although it’s not very known here in Lebanon) and they melted in a couple of days when left on the counter. I read it in the comments that it sucks humidity and melts off the apples. I’m not sure about the texture, but should the candy still be sticky? or does it get as hard as glass?

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The Baker, Writer, Recipe Maker

Hey there! Thanks for visiting my blog. I'm Irvin Lin, an IACP-Award winning photographer, award winning baker, award winning graphic designer, storyteller, recipe developer, writer and average joe bon vivant. Hilarity often ensues when I'm involved. I currently reside in San Francisco in the neighborhood people have recently taken to calling "The Gastro" - a block from Dolores Park and right near Tartine Bakery, Bi Rite Market & Creamery, and Delfina.

I can also be found at various food events around the city. Feel free to contact me by clicking on that picture of me up above or emailing me eatthelove {at} gmail {dot} com.

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